Can you believe it’s already been a year since the Etched Diamond Quilt series released?!
The Etched Diamond design has had several milestones in its journey, and I still remember receiving the acceptance email back in 2018 when the original design was featured in the 2019 The Quilter’s Planner. It was a total pinch me moment in my business and quilt designing career 😊
I always love hearing the story of how things came to be, and I thought you might be curious to know more about how a quilt pattern designer (me!) came to design a pattern extension to a fashion sewing pattern for a well-known indie pattern designer (Meg!)!
This is a story about two creative makers loving what they do and on a mission to make it easy and fun for you to get you in on the stitching too!
My Why
You know my goal is to help encourage you to give quilting a try/dive deeper into your quilty practice, and to make it fun and easy for you.
The novelty of sharing modern quilt designs with you never gets old. Hearing you get excited about how your quilt turned out and that my patterns helped you get there is just the best!
I often think about how I could have entirely missed the opportunity to express myself with fabric simply because I didn’t think I would like quilting. It reminds me on the daily just how important it is to stay open. Things change. We change. And things we thought we wouldn’t be interested in, over time, it turns out, we are!
And when you realize that you are open and curious about a new creative venture, it’s always more fun to connect with others on a similar path that can help along the way!
Sharing is caring, and that’s why I share tutorials, resources, tips, and inspirational projects here on the blog to make it easier for you to embrace modern quilting.
Community & Collaboration
It also explains why I always love when I can collaborate with other creatives who have a similar ethos in wanting to encourage creatives to explore this fiber craft. It’s no surprise really that Megan of Megan Nielsen Patterns and I connected since we’re both on similar missions: Megan designs sewing patterns to encourage sewists of all levels to dive into the fun of sewing your own garments, while I’m always looking for ways to make quilting easier to dive into and take away some of the overwhelm. It’s about sharing our love for our craft and wanting you to get in on the fun too 😉
That said, when Meg invited me to participate in the launch of her Hovea coat by making one, I had no idea it would lead to such glorious collaboration.
You can read all about my journey diving into the world of me-made fashion for the first time here and I also share my Top 10 Tips for diving in for the first time over on Megan’s blog.
We both fell in love with that first coat, and I couldn’t resist approaching Meg to see about offering it as a pattern extension so you too could add your own quilty flair to your Hovea or Hovea Curves quilted coat!
Go after what you want
Can I just say, if you’re sitting there and you have an idea for something that gets you excited, but you’re nervous about reaching out and pitching it, then here’s my advice: do it! I was nervous too to email Megan about my idea. But I was so beyond fired up by the idea that I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. And so, one night around 10:30 pm (which is late for me 😉), I bit the bullet and drafted an email to Meg sharing my idea for a pattern extension, and then…went to bed and waited to hear back.
Well, the wait was well worth it because she wrote back with the loveliest note that made me feel so happy that I had faced my fear and reached out anyway because she loved it!
We were so in love, but the biggest question was: would you be?
And the fact that you’ve responded with an overwhelmingly positive response has been the ultimate in confirming that good things happen when you create from your heart.
Seeing you dive in and make your own Hovea Coats featuring the Etched Diamond design is what I like to refer to as the Circle of Joy 😊 That is at the foundation of my why for Shannon Fraser Designs – creating more Circle of Joy moments.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about how the Etched Diamond Quilt x Hovea Coat pattern extension came to be!
Due to popular requests, I’ve since gone on to create a Quilted Coat Course to help guide you through video tutorials every step of the way from the comfort of your sewing room!
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
PS You can also learn more about Meg and see what notions she loves to stock in her sewing ‘basket’ as a special guest in the What’s in Your Sewing Bag series.
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